NUDAKE Tea House (Seongsu): Seoul Travel Guide

A tea room five floors above Seongsu

The stairs or the lift are part of the trip here. NUDAKE has moved its tea concept off the street and up to the 5th floor, a relocation that came in 2026 alongside a full revamp of the café space. You leave a street of brick workshops and shuttered metal shops behind before you sit down.

That height is the point of difference. Most of Seongsu’s cafés compete at street level, with queues on the pavement and glass shopfronts facing the road. A dedicated tea house on an upper floor feels set apart from the neighbourhood that keeps it busy, even though it belongs to it.

Why NUDAKE draws a line

NUDAKE is the dessert label linked to the Gentle Monster group. It made its name treating pastry like an art installation: dark, sculptural cakes plated with the attention most people give to gallery pieces. The tea house applies that design-first thinking to a calmer format.

We don’t have a confirmed menu for the new space, so we won’t guess at what’s on it. Look at what the brand has posted most recently before you go. Concepts like this change their offerings with the seasons, and a tea house that has just reopened may still be fine-tuning what it serves.

Getting to Seongsu-dong

Line 2 is the easy route. Get off at Seongsu Station and you’re in the café district within a few minutes’ walk. Exits 3 and 4 put you on the side where the converted factories and flagship stores are packed most tightly.

Other options:

• Seoul Forest Station (Suin-Bundang Line) works if you’re coming from Wangsimni or Gangnam’s eastern edge.
• Ttukseom Station (Line 2) is one stop west, handy if you start the day with a walk in Seoul Forest park.
• Taxi: show the driver the Korean address from Naver Map or KakaoMap. Google Maps directions are unreliable in Korea.

Booking, paying and getting a seat

A 2026 relocation and a famous name mean people will want in. Your first job is to find out whether NUDAKE is taking reservations for the Tea House or seating walk-ins only. Its official Instagram is the most likely place for that news. Seoul venues often run bookings and waitlists through Catch Table, so check the app as well.

How it usually works in Seoul:

• Waitlists are digital. If there’s a tablet at the door, put in your Korean phone number or join through the app, then go and browse nearby until you’re called.
• Cards are standard. Contactless cards and mobile pay work almost everywhere in Seongsu. Nobody expects cash.
• No tipping. The price on the bill is the full amount.
• Photos are expected. Design-led spaces in Seongsu are made to be photographed. Keep it quick and don’t block other tables, especially in a tea room meant to feel calm.
• Ordering. Saying “igeo juseyo” (this one, please) while pointing at the menu will get you through.

If you have no booking, arriving soon after the doors open usually beats the afternoon rush that fills Seongsu’s well-known cafés. Weekends are when the whole neighbourhood gets crowded with day-trippers.

Planning the rest of your Seongsu day

Give the tea house about an hour, then let the neighbourhood fill the rest of the day. Seongsu-dong was a district of shoe workshops and small factories. Many of those buildings now hold concept stores, galleries and pop-ups that change from month to month.

Close by:

• Seoul Forest, a big park with deer enclosures and riverside paths, a short walk west.
• Seongsu shoe street, near the station, where some of the old handmade-shoe workshops still trade.
• Pop-up stores along Yeonmujang-gil, the lane where brands test launches. They change constantly, so walk it with no plan.
• Ttukseom Hangang Park, for a sunset by the Han River when you’re done.

Before you set out

Two things decide whether your visit goes smoothly. The first is opening hours: we haven’t been given a confirmed schedule for the new 5th-floor space. The second is whether it takes bookings. Check both on NUDAKE’s official channels on the day.

Bring a phone with Naver Map or KakaoMap installed. Arrive with some patience as well. A brand that people travel to Seongsu for, in a new room, is unlikely to be quiet on a Saturday.